At Gohana’s grain market, Congress reaches out to farmers

CHANDIGARH: Congress general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday said the party and farmers of the country shared a relationship which was more than a century old. “From bringing water to fields to providing them with minimum support price (MSP), the Congress has always stood with farmers and will continue to do so,” he said at a gathering in Gohana, Sonipat, on Friday.


The gathering was organised at Gohana’s Grain Mark as part of the Congress’s Parivartan Yatra. The yatra started from Karnal on its fifth day and travelled through Panipat, Israna, Gohana, Lakhan Majra, Meham, Kalanaur and Beri, before reaching

Jhajjar

in the evening. Azad, former chief minister and head of the party’s election coordination committee for elections Bhupinder Singh Hooda, state president Ashok Tanwar, Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda and other leaders appealed to people to vote for the Congress in Lok Sabha elections this year.

Hooda attacked the BJP government. He described its policies as “anti-farmer” and said it had made farmers’ condition “pitiable”. “They have not only been denied a fair price for their produce, the government’s policies have pushed up their input prices by bringing them under GST, hitting them from both ends,” he said. “All farmers in the state are struggling as they are not getting a fair price for their crops. Even for crops covered under MSP, farmers are being harassed needlessly as the government has put a series of conditions before their crop is purchased. Many farmers simply give up and sell their crops at any price they get,” he added.

Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda said the Congress had undertaken the “massive task” of launching a final assault on poverty through the NYAY scheme. “Congress president Rahul Gandhi has promised to waive all agricultural loans and deposit Rs 72,000 in the account of every poor family; he is someone who has always delivered on his promises,” he said and appealed to every Congress worker and supporter to work for the party unitedly and ensure a victory for the party on all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Bishnoi, Surjewala missing again

Adampur

MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi and Congress communications incharge Randeep Surjewala refrained from participating in the yatra. Both had boarded the bus on Friday, when Congress president Rahul Gandhi joined touring leaders of the party. Bishnoi had made it clear that he would join programes which would be chaired by United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.